Aoki Masaru
Aoki Masaru (青木 勝) is a Lightweight and very unorthodox In Fighter and a member of the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. Along with Makunouchi Ippo, Takamura Mamoru, Kimura Tatsuya, and later Itagaki Manabu, Aoki rounds out the core group of main characters for the story. About Though he is not really an exceptional boxer, he has trained his body well and is good at thinking up original techniques and tricky tactics that confuse or ridicule his opponents. But because he has no real finishing move, many of his matches end up becoming mud fights. He is almost always seen with his best friend Kimura Tatsuya and has loyal "disciples" in Team Aoki. Aoki is currently the only gymmate to have a girlfriend, Tomiko, whom he met on a group date and now lives with. In high school he was dumped by a very beautiful girl named Miyuki, and since then he has had more of an interest in "uglier" girls (like Tomiko). Aoki frequently works part-time at the Chuuka Soba restaurant that Ippo and the others often stop by after training, and his skills in the kitchen are said by Takamura to be much better than his skills in the ring. He has expressed a desire to use the money he has made with boxing to open his own restaurant after he retires. Though he has trained his body well, he is often comically portrayed as the weakest of the main characters. For example, Ippo beats him within a split second at arm wrestling at one point and seemingly breaks his arm. On the other hand, he excels at other sports like baseball and bowling, and in fact his bowling nickname is No Miss Ao-chan (ノーミスの青ちゃん). This has prompted Takamura to mockingly point out that Aoki has frightening talent at everything except boxing. There was a bet placed with him and Takamura stating that his hair would be cut like Papaya Dachiu if he were to lose to him. Aoki ends the match in a draw decision, but Takamura states it as a loss, and proceeds to cut his hair into a shape of broccoli. Ironically, a prank turned into fame as Aoki became Broccoman, becoming very popular with kids and having a franchise dedicated to it. He greatly admires former World Junior Middleweight Champion Wajima Kouichi, the creator of his trademark Frog Punch. Nicknames, etc Kimura and Aoki Masaru was bestfriends since kindergarten and became delinquents in High School. They always make trouble and brawled always mostly they beat up students from North High. But after they attacked Takamura when they got kicked out of school they decided to join the Kamogawa Boxing Gym to find better chances of beating up Takamura but they always lose in sparring matches. After their first debut match they looked up to Takamura as there senpai Story Fights Techniques Although his boxing ability is downplayed many times throughout the story, Aoki has actually shown himself to be a very capable boxer. He lacks the talent that gymmates Takamura and Ippo have, but makes up for it with his creativity and intelligence. In fact, he has come up with man of his own techniques, such as the Frog Punch and Look Away. In terms of boxing ability, he is shown to be around the level of a national champion. This is seen when he is able to fight Imae Katsutaka and Papaya Dachiu to a draw, tying twice with the latter. *Frog Punch *Double Punch *Spinning Corkscrew *Look Away *Play Dead *Swamp Category:Male characters Category:Active boxers Category:Characters from Japan Category:Kamogawa Boxing Gym Category:Lightweights Category:In Fighters Category:Boxers